


Welcome to my house, take control

by heartequals (savvygambols)



Series: i do my laundry better when i'm with you [2]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Bed-sharing, M/M, Nesting, Soft af, but like in a irl way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 13:32:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22905424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvygambols/pseuds/heartequals
Summary: “Come over tonight,” said Jakub. “I want to play FIFA and you look sad.”“I’m not sad and I can’t, I have to do laundry,” said Vitek. “Can I take a rain check?”“Okay, I’ll come over to your place then,” said Jakub. “You can do laundry and I will play FIFA.”Jakub had a kind of frenetic joy that was infectious and Vitek thought it would probably be good for him to be around Jakub for a couple of hours.
Relationships: Liam O'Brien/Riley Barber (Implied), Vitek Vanecek/Jakub Vrana
Series: i do my laundry better when i'm with you [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1645495
Comments: 12
Kudos: 99





	Welcome to my house, take control

**Author's Note:**

> I had writer’s block so bad that it was causing problems in my personal life, so I challenged myself to write hockey vignettes on a theme/prompt to help myself out of it. The theme was laundry. WHATEVER WORKS, MAN ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> _[reads one (1) article about Jakub Vrana and Vitek Vanecek] “This better not awaken anything in me.”_ Shout out to addandsubtract for sending me a bunch of soft Vrana/Vanecek content last year for inspiration for an entirely different fic that has yet to be written. Shit’s been percolating, much like the Bears’ defense.
> 
> I made up A LOT about the Bears’ 2015-2016 season and did very little research beyond looking at Wikipedia pages and reading a handful articles about Jakub Vrana and Vitek Vanecek one time and I am certain I screwed up every single player's professional timelines, HOWEVER, Liam O’Brien and Riley Barber at one point living above an ice cream shop is 100% real. Just throwing that out there. (Liam O’Brien volunteered this information in an interview on the incomparable Chocolate Hockey podcast, Bears Blueline, which I recommend with verve.)
> 
> I endeavored to be as respectful as possible to the experience of living in a country in which one does not speak the language fluently, however if I fucked up, I apologize deeply.
> 
> None of this is real :((

Honestly, the worst thing about North America and English in general was attempting to read the labels on laundry detergent bottles. Back home, Vitek did not have to worry about buying the right kind of laundry detergent. He just bought the kind his parents had been buying his whole life and left it at that. It was the kind that smelled like home.

Also, Americans are really weird about chemicals. Some of his teammates on the Stingrays liked to talk about chemicals and how bad they were for your health. Vitek hadn’t really understood the full extent of why, exactly, laundry chemicals were so bad for a guy because his English was still really bad and he had been glad when he got called up. Primarily for his career but a lot also because it meant he didn’t have to deal with people trying to explain to him that he shouldn’t use specific kinds of laundry detergent before games. It had taken him a week and a half to figure out they were talking about laundry in the first place.

In Hershey, all the bottles were different and Vitek still couldn’t read the labels on his first attempt at grocery shopping alone. He recognized an illustration of a lavender plant though, so he just bought that one and hoped it wouldn’t kill him. 

In the checkout line, the clerk spoke to him at length and he didn’t understand most of what she was saying. Something about food, maybe. He smiled and thanked her awkwardly as she bagged his groceries, chattering the whole time about...vegetables? He was pretty sure it was vegetables.

“Byeeee,” she said cheerily as he left the store. Vitek waved uncomfortably.

Showing up to practice was a relief. Practice meant ice time, the only time he really felt comfortable and confident, even if he didn’t understand most of what the goalie coaches were telling him. He was picking words up, though, and they were pretty patient with him. He was good at hockey, he knew he was, and they knew he was too. So they were willing to be patient with him as he learned.

Practice also meant Jakub hanging off him and trying to score on him and getting all in the way of Vitek doing things, on and off ice. Vitek enjoyed that too. It was a relief to speak Czech to someone and have someone translate for him and also just have a fast friend. He didn’t have a lot of friends on the Stingrays because they were so fucking weird and not really that nice to him.

“Hey,” said Jakub, skating up to him toward the end of practice. “Come over tonight. I want to play FIFA and you look sad.”

“I’m not sad and I can’t, I have to do laundry,” said Vitek. “Can I take a rain check?” 

It was only their second practice together and Jakub had been bothering him the minute the forward coaches released him. Vitek was really grateful for the distraction because the goalie coach was starting to look frustrated in that way where he was trying really hard not to look frustrated and failing a lot.

“Okay, I’ll come over to your place then,” said Jakub. “You can do laundry and I will play FIFA.”

Vitek thought about arguing because he really did not know how the hell to work his laundry machine and that was going to be really embarrassing to figure out with Jakub around. But Jakub had a kind of frenetic joy that was infectious and Vitek thought it would probably be good for him to be around Jakub for a couple of hours.

The goalie coach said something to Jakub and Jakub burst into laughter. The goalie coach gestured at Vitek and Jakub said, “he says you can leave practice if you stop me from scoring 7 times out of 10.”

“Ah, fuck,” said Vitek because Jakub had a good, steady shot that Vitek had a lot of trouble blocking.

“I’ll go easy on you,” said Jakub.

“Don’t you dare,” said Vitek. Jakub laughed again and skated to the blue line to start taking shots.

Vitek blocked 6 out of 10 from Jakub from the blue line and 2 out of 3 from Liam from center ice when the goalie coach called him over to be a tie-breaker. Liam didn’t go easy on him either but gave Vitek a tap against the shins and a wide smile as the three of them left the ice together. He said something to Vitek and then to Jakub.

“What did he say?” asked Vitek. He hadn’t caught any of it except “team”.

“He said that you are going to be good on this team,” said Jakub. “Then he said to me that if we ever need anything, we can ask him.”

Vitek decided he liked Liam a lot.

Back at Vitek’s apartment, Jakub made himself at home in the kitchen making coffee and Vitek went to stare at the laundry machine. It would be okay if there were words, he thought, because his washing machine in North Charleston had words and he’d learned what those meant. But this washing machine only had symbols and the symbols were different than what he was used to. It was so stupid that the symbols were different across countries.

“You need help?” said Jakub, prodding him in the shoulder. Vitek startled and turned around. Jakub was drinking coffee out of a Hershey Bears mug that Vitek had picked up from the team store after his first practice. It was the only mug Vitek owned. Jakub looked down at the mug and then back up at Vitek. “Bud, we have to get you more mugs,” he said cheerfully.

Jakub helped Vitek figure out the symbols on the washing machine and wandered away to set up his gaming console with the television that came with Vitek’s apartment while Vitek put his laundry in the wash. It only took fifteen minutes all together. It was probably the easiest time he’d ever had doing laundry in the United States so far.

Jakub was in the middle of a game and yelling about it so Vitek just sat down next to him. He figured they were friends so it was okay if he took Jakub’s coffee.

“Hey,” complained Jakub, not looking away from the screen. “That was mine.”

“Play your game,” said Vitek and took a sip. It was perfect. Jakub grumped at him and then got distracted. Vitek smiled into the mug. It was nice to have a friend.

They played two rounds of FIFA before Vitek had to put his laundry in the dryer, another thing he needed help with, and then they played four more rounds of FIFA and Jakub ordered them dinner on the phone. Vitek could not fucking wait until he knew enough English and could order take out and not have to make himself dinner every night. He’d only been in Hershey for two days and he was already tired of eating steamed vegetables.

He had offered to make them dinner, of course, but Jakub had apparently been snooping in his kitchen while Vitek had been trying to figure out how to use the washing machine. He had discovered Vitek had no spices.

“Your kitchen is sad,” said Jakub over Chinese take out. He was having trouble with the chopsticks.

“I’ve only been here for two days,” said Vitek. “I haven’t had a lot of time to do anything except grocery shop.”

“Oh yeah, how’d that go?” asked Jakub. He dropped a piece of chicken and swore. Vitek snorted.

“It was okay. The shop clerk tried to talk to me but I didn’t understand her. She was really nice, I think. Or trying to be.”

Jakub set aside his chopsticks and picked up the chicken with his fingers. “Was she pretty?”

“I guess?” said Vitek. “I wasn’t really paying attention to that. I was just trying not to embarass myself.” He picked up a piece of shrimp and felt smug when he didn’t drop it.

“Oh, yeah,” said Jakub, watching him carefully. He seemed to be trying to figure out how Vitek was holding the chopsticks. “Makes sense. Sometimes I get distracted too.”

From the two days that Vitek knew him, Jakub was pretty distractible everywhere except on ice, so that tracked.

They ate the rest of the food and went back to playing video games until Vitek remembered his laundry, late in the evening. Jakub left with a hug and Vitek felt better about life, generally. Jakub had left his console at Vitek’s house, but Vitek wasn’t mad--it just meant that Jakub would come over again. Vitek was okay with that.

Vitek was told early at practice the next morning that he was a scratch in their game that evening, which was unsurprising. He worked his ass off in practice though until the goalie coach looked pretty pleased with him. He still didn’t understand almost all of what the goalie coach was saying to him, but the goalie coach at least was starting to show him what to do, rather than try to tell him. Hershey was already way better than playing with the Stingrays.

Liam clapped him on the shoulder as he got off ice and said something. Vitek caught the word “dinner” and figured it was an invitation to a meal. Liam’s smile dimmed not at all when Vitek spread his hands like, _I have no fucking clue what you are asking me_. He just went to get Jakub.

“He wants to know if you want to get dinner tonight before the game,” said Jakub.

“I’m tired,” said Vitek. “English is hard and my brain is tired. I need to nap.”

“You shouldn’t say no,” said Jakub. “He’s being nice. He wants you to feel included. He’s an alternate.”

“Okay,” said Vitek. “What about dessert after the game? And you have to come.”

Jakub said something to Liam and Liam grinned so Vitek figured they were on for dessert.

They won the game so everyone was in a good mood. Liam literally lived over an ice cream shop with another guy on the team, Riley, and they bought both Jakub and Vitek ice cream. The ice cream was good. Jakub had to spend most of the night translating for Vitek, even though that had to be super annoying and he had to be really tired. He was pressed close against Vitek in the small booth in the ice cream shop, arm slung casually across the back of the booth.

Vitek watched Riley and Liam carefully the whole time. They kept exchanging looks, like they were communicating. Kind of like how Vitek’s parents did, being married for so many years and able to talk without speaking. Riley and Liam weren’t that much older than Vitek though, maybe a couple of years at most, but they had the practiced art of acting like a married couple down, apparently. Vitek wondered what they were saying to each other. Maybe it was an alternate thing, like you learned how to communicate with your alternates wordlessly to take care of the team.

Jakub flicked Vitek in the ear when Vitek went too quiet for too long. “Earth to Vitek,” he said. “Wow, you must be really tired. Are you going to finish your ice cream?”

Vitek passed his ice cream to Jakub. Riley and Liam looked at each other again, a quirk of the lips, a slight nod. Jakub didn’t seem to notice, focused as he was on Vitek’s ice cream.

Liam said something to them. Something about a bus.

“He wants to know if we’re going to be okay getting to the bus on Thursday,” said Jakub around a mouth full of ice cream.

“Can you drive? I don’t know where it is.” said Vitek, watching Jakub lick the spoon. “Good God, get a napkin, you animal.”

“Sure,” said Jakub and presumably said as much to Liam and Riley. Liam smiled. Vitek handed Jakub a napkin.

They didn’t have practice the next day but Jakub was hellbent on getting Vitek dishware so he woke Vitek up at a stupid hour in the morning by both knocking on Vitek’s door and calling him over and over again until Vitek woke up. Jakub wanted to go to Ikea.

Jakub had brought his own mug, better coffee beans than what Vitek had, and a coffee grinder. Vitek left him to it and went to take a shower.

Ikea was too big and Vitek didn’t really care that much about dishware as long as he could microwave it so he let Jakub make the decisions and just followed him around trying to read the little price tags. Swedish and English and he could hardly understand any of it. Christ, he really should taken English classes, he thought, but then again, maybe Jakub wouldn’t be helping him out all the time. Not that being helped with basic shit like how to run a washing machine was particularly fun or even really a good basis for friendship, but Vitek liked having Jakub around.

Jakub chose brown plates (“for Hershey!”), red mugs (“for the Capitals!”), glass cups, a set of silverware, a set of steak knives, a roasting pan, floral hand towels for the bathroom (“seriously man, you cannot keep using paper towels”), checkered dish towels for the kitchen (“_seriously_, Vitek, you cannot keep using paper towels!”), and some gold throw pillows for the couch.

Vitek watched all this curiously. He really didn’t care what happened in his apartment but it was cool that Jakub was so into it, he guessed. He added some bath towels, because he only had one, and a lamp for his bedroom. On their last pass through the store, he bought a picture of a bear in the woods. Jakub said Vitek was being cheesy. Vitek liked it.

Jakub translated to Vitek what the cashier said as Vitek paid. She seemed to think they were roommates, or dating. This made Jakub laugh and protest in a delighted tone of voice.

“What did you say in response?” Vitek asked as they walked through the parking lot. He’d only caught “lucky” out of Jakub’s parting statement.

“‘Any person should be so lucky to get this guy’,” said Jakub. He punched Vitek in the shoulder. “Your apartment is gonna look so sick now. It won’t be all sad.”

“You’ve only been once!” said Vitek. But Jakub was right: his apartment was very sad and he was definitely going to be in it for awhile. Might as well make it a home.

“Come on, slowpoke,” said Jakub, jogging ahead of him to his car. “I want to play FIFA.”

Vitek washed all his new towels in the afternoon during several rounds of FIFA. He and Jakub both had forgotten to buy hanging hooks, so the bear picture had to lean against the wall in the living room. Jakub helped him wash and dry all the kitchen stuff and put them in cabinets and drawers.

“Wow,” said Jakub, looking around the kitchen while Vitek folded dish towels over the oven handle. “Progress. Small progress, but progress.”

He dragged Vitek out for groceries. Jakub said he wanted to see the pretty shop clerk Vitek had been talking to, but he got distracted looking at spices and seemed to forget all about the shop clerk in favor of asking Vitek’s opinion about seasoning vegetables and chicken.

Jakub left Vitek before dinner. He would pick Vitek up tomorrow so he better be up in time to get there early. They were rookies, they couldn’t afford to be late.

Vitek found all the seasoning spices in his cupboard. Vitek wondered if Jakub had meant to leave them there all along. Maybe he just got distracted and forgot that he had bought them for himself. Maybe he bought them as a gift for Vitek and forgot to tell him. Both seemed like something Jakub would do.

Jakub was waiting with coffee for Vitek in the morning. On the bus, he fell asleep on Vitek’s shoulder after finishing his coffee. One of the older guys took a picture of them and put it in the team’s group chat. Vitek stared at all the messages coming through. He understood the emojis at least. People thought they were being gross cute. Vitek didn’t mind; if being called soft was the worst of the hazing, Hershey was a good place to be.

They won their two games on the road. Jakub dropped off Vitek at his house late in the evening.

“I want ice cream,” said Jakub. 

“At Liam and Riley’s house?” Vitek asked.

“Yeah. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

Liam and Riley met them for ice cream downstairs. They looked like they had just gotten out of bed with their worn-in jeans and Capitals sweatshirts and their hair still in funny tufts. Vitek didn’t blame them -- their bus got in late and it was fuck off early in the morning. He didn’t want to get up either but Jakub wouldn’t stop calling him until he opened the door.

The ice cream was still good at least. Liam and Riley kept talking to each other without actually saying anything. Jakub looked soft in his sweater and snapback.

A couple nights later, Jakub and Vitek were up late playing FIFA again.

“I’m tired,” said Vitek when he lost his third match in a row. He was grumpy about it. “I’m going to bed.”

“I’m sleeping on the couch,” said Jakub. “I’m too tired to drive.”

He did look half asleep already. He had barely won the last match. He probably only won because Vitek was too tired to make an effort.

“Okay,” said Vitek. He only had two blankets and usually he slept under both of them, but it didn’t feel gracious to make Jakub sleep without a blanket, so he gave Jakub the heavier one and just turned the heat up.

Jakub didn’t complain about the couch and he made coffee for Vitek in the morning. Vitek thought he’d be a pretty good roommate. Maybe Jakub would move in with him next year, if he asked. If Jakub wasn’t called up. Vitek wasn’t going anywhere for awhile, anyway. Goalies had to work harder to get called up. They took more time to grow, his goalie coach in 1.liga told him before he moved to the US. Goalies have to work harder and longer.

Jakub stayed over a lot after that night. He always had coffee waiting for Vitek in the morning. He also brought a pillow and a pillowcase and another blanket that he claimed to like more than either of Vitek’s.

Liam asked Vitek something after practice one day, a month after Vitek joined the team. Vitek picked up “apartment” and “roommate”. He didn’t know what the question was. He didn’t think Liam was asking him to move in with him. Him and Riley were pretty tight. Vitek was certain that Liam was attending dog training classes with Riley and Riley’s dog.

He spread his hands and looked around for Jakub to translate but he was across the room arguing with a teammate about something.

Liam shook his head. He repeated his question carefully, more slowly. Vitek frowned, tried really hard to understand. Liam was asking whether or not Jakub was his roommate, he thought. He wasn’t completely sure that’s what it was, but enough to chance answering the question alone without Jakub.

He tried really hard to come up with the words. “No,” he said. “Jakub helps.”

It wasn’t anything close to what he wanted to say. Jakub did more than help. Jakub was his best friend on the team, Jakub went grocery shopping with him, Jakub kept leaving hoodies at Vitek’s house, Jakub had slept on Vitek’s couch three times that week already and had his own toothbrush by the sink. Jakub had the spare key to Vitek’s apartment; Jakub wasn’t his roommate but he should be. Jakub was weird and dumb but he was Vitek’s best friend and Vitek would be lost without him.

“Good man,” said Liam with a bright smile and said something about drinks. Jakub and Vitek were too young to go to bars in the United States, which was the stupidest thing in the world.

Liam had meant that Jakub and Vitek could come over to Liam and Riley’s apartment for drinks with him and Riley and some of the other underage guys, according to Jakub. The Bears were winning more than losing and looked more or less a lock for the playoffs so Vitek figured it was celebratory.

Whoever was making drinks made them strong. Neither Vitek nor Jakub had had a drink since they’d gotten to the US months ago and their alcohol tolerance was shot. Everyone made fun of them for being so weak, but they seemed fond enough, Vitek thought.

He really liked the Bears. They were nicer than the Stingrays for sure. Nicer than his Czech team too. No one talked about chemicals on the Bears and they all tried to include Vitek even though he didn’t really know what people were saying to him most of the time.

Riley drove them back to Vitek’s apartment. Vitek was too drunk and tired to even bother trying to understand what Riley was saying to them but Jakub responded in English.

“Water,” said Jakub, draping himself across Vitek’s shoulders as Vitek struggled to get his key in the lock. “Riley said we need to drink water before bed.”

He was being loud. Vitek shushed him so the neighbors wouldn’t complain. Opening the door was harder with Jakub leaning against him and giggling into his shoulder.

They drank two cups of water each before bed. Jakub followed Vitek to bed. He took off his shirt and pants and climbed into bed. Vitek stared at him.

“Come to bed,” said Jakub. “I’m tired. Stop staring, it’s rude.”

“You’re in my bed,” said Vitek, feeling dumb and confused.

“Come to _bed_, Vitek,” said Jakub.

Vitek stripped off his shirt and pants too and climbed into bed next to Jakub. He fell asleep quickly and woke up after Jakub, of course.

Jakub dragged him to Target to buy new sheets once they were less hungover. Jakub said that Vitek’s were not very good, the thread count was too low to be comfortable. Vitek did not give a shit about thread count so he just followed Jakub up and down the aisle and let Jakub look at sheets. He bought the sheets Jakub handed to him and listened as Jakub chatted to the cashier. She was very pretty, for a girl, Vitek figured. Jakub didn’t seem interested in anything more than just being friendly though, so Vitek didn’t say anything about her when they left the store.

Jakub just followed Vitek to bed now. Sometimes after staying over too late playing video games, sometimes when a game pissed him off and he didn’t want to be alone. Sometimes he just seemed to want to sleep next to Vitek. Vitek let him. Jakub was his best friend; Vitek was not about to kick him out of bed.

A couple of times Vitek woke up in the middle of the night to Jakub curled up close behind him, his knees touching Vitek’s thighs. Vitek never tried to move him. He just listened to Jakub make his soft sleepy noises. Vitek didn’t mind Jakub being so close to him.

Vitek got to start one game. He won and he was so proud of himself. The team was proud of him too, screaming in his face after the game. Jakub might have been the proudest of him all, racing toward him on the ice when the buzzer sounded so that he could be first to hug him. He hung all over Vitek in the locker room, even when the press were there and he shouldn’t have. At least he had the excuse of being Vitek’s translator for the post-game scrum and not just hanging off him like a monkey for no reason.

Vitek didn’t think his post-game interview was particularly good. Him and Jakub kept looking at each other and laughing at the questions Vitek was being asked.

His mom and dad called him after the game while Jakub was banging around in the kitchen doing something and Vitek was laid out on the couch like a king. Also because he was tired as fuck; he knew playing a full game would be hard but it was his first time. He accepted their Facetime request and held the phone at the most flattering angle he could without moving.

“Baby, we’re so proud of you,” said his mom. She was choked up, eyes red.

“You worked so hard,” said his dad. He was kind of emotional too. “Vitek, you did so well.”

Vitek wanted to say it was just one game and there would be more, but his parents had sacrificed so much for him that he couldn’t even pretend it wasn’t special to win his first AHL game. It was pretty damn special.

“You’ll have to see another,” he said. “I’ll fly you out. Maybe next year when I’m playing more. I hope I’m playing more.”

His mother burst into tears. He couldn’t really understand what she was saying because she was covering her face with her hands. “Mom, are you okay?”

“Oh, sweetheart,” she said. “You made it.”

Playing one game and lying flat out on his couch and hardly able to move really just impressed on Vitek how much more he had to grow, but with his mom crying and his dad making a valiant effort not to cry, Vitek could see how much this meant to them. It meant a lot to him too. He tried not to get emotional about it but it was hard with both his parents crying in front of him.

Jakub came into the living room. “Oh boy,” he said, looking at Vitek all emotional on his back and his parents crying noisily on the phone. He picked up Vitek’s legs so he could climb under them and settle onto the couch with Vitek’s ankles in his lap. “Is the Vaněček family okay? Did someone die?”

“They’re proud of me,” siad Vitek.

“I’m proud of you too,” said Jakub happily. He squeezed Vitek’s ankle. “Everyone should be proud of you.”

Vitek smiled at him and refused to cry.

“Oh, is that Jakub?” asked his mom. “I want to see him.”

Vitek switched the camera around. Jakub waved at his parents. “Hi guys,” he said.

He had talked to them only once before, when Vitek picked up a call in the middle of dinner. He had been missing them a lot and Jakub hadn’t minded, especially not after he got to meet the family cat over video. He liked Vitek’s parents and they liked him. They liked how much Jakub helped him and Jakub liked the attention of them thanking him profusely.

Vitek’s parents chatted with Jakub about the game for awhile, demanding details of plays they couldn’t quite see on the feed and all the things people said in English to Vitek. Vitek was almost insulted that they didn’t want to ask his opinion of plays but he was so tired and Jakub was happy to give them a blow-by-blow.

The three of them spoke long enough that Vitek fell asleep. Jakub had been rubbing his thumb across Vitek’s ankle. It was soothing.

Vitek woke up to Jakub poking him in the side. “Say goodbye to Mom and Dad,” he said, shoving the phone in Vitek’s face. “Your phone is going to die soon, sleepyhead.”

Vitek said good night to his parents -- his mother cried again when he told her that he owed that win to them and everything they did for him -- and almost fell asleep on the couch again after he hung up. Jakub was massaging his ankles gently.

Jakub poked him again just before he got too boneless to move. “Come on, Vitek. Bedtime.”

Jakub brushed his teeth while Vitek got dressed for bed. Then Vitek brushed his teeth and washed his face and Jakub dressed for bed. Vitek paused in the doorway of the room, watching Jakub climb into bed. “Those aren’t my clothes,” he said.

Jakub had previously been just stealing his shirts to sleep in. This time he looked a little guilty. “I didn’t want to stretch out your shirts,” he mumbled. “So I brought some of my own last week.”

“You’re so weird,” said Vitek. He got into bed and lay down.

Then he turned on his side to face Jakub. Jakub turned on his side too. The bed was smaller than Vitek cared to admit, but they usually fit on it without the need for intimacy. “Jakub, do you want to move in with me?”

“Is that an offer?”

“Sort of a statement of fact,” siad Vitek. “But also an offer, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Jakub,” said Vitek. “You’re literally sleeping in my bed. Last week you helped me hang the bear photo. You filled a whole cabinet shelf with your stupid expensive fancy coffee. You helped buy everything in the kitchen. You made me buy a third set of sheets for my bed because you said it was good to have a back up and you didn’t like my regular sheets.”

“You like the stupid expensive fancy coffee,” said Jakub, but he looked worried, like he thought Vitek was going to kick him out of bed or the house. Vitek didn’t want to do either of those things and especially did not want to make Jakub worried.

He said, “yeah, I do. You should just give up your lease on your apartment and move in with me for real instead.”

“You sure?” said Jakub. “What if we suck at living together?”

“We already kind of live together,” Vitek pointed out.

Jakub pulled the blankets up to his chin, looking pleased. “Okay. I’ll call my landlord tomorrow. All my furniture belongs to the apartment anyway. I don’t have much.”

Vitek turned off the light. Jakub fell asleep almost immediately, but Vitek stayed up a little longer just thinking. Jakub spent so much time at his house that he hadn’t decorated his own? That made Vitek feel bad, like he had been a bad friend. But Jakub was going to live with him now for real anyway, so that was okay.

In the morning, Jakub made them coffee, Vitek made them eggs, and then Jakub dragged Vitek furniture shopping because both of their clothes were really not going to fit in Vitek’s crappy dresser that had come with the apartment. If Vitek had no opinion on thread counts, he had even less of an opinion on what kind of wood Jakub should have for his dresser. He just followed Jakub around Ikea and listened to him agonize over dark brown wood or light.

“Light brown wood would match my dresser,” he said after 45 minutes of Jakub pacing back and forth between two displays. One display was set up like an adult bedroom, muted and elegant colors and soft lighting over a big bed. The other display was set up like a kid’s bedroom, colors exploding off the sheets and fake curtains and the lights bright enough to show the flush in Jakub’s face. The kid’s room had the light brown wood dresser.

“You’re right,” said Jakub. “Of course, you’re always right about making a home.”

Jakub had to know that wasn’t true, that he was the one who had made Vitek’s house a home, but he looked completely serious for a brief moment. Then he lit up. “What if we got a wall hanging for your bedroom?” he said, pointing at another display with a big fake quilt hanging on a fake wall over a queen-sized bed.

“It’s your bedroom too and I think I could have my mom ship over one of my grandma’s quilts. It would cost roughly the same,” said Vitek, examining the price tag.

“I like that idea better,” said Jakub instantly. “I want to see your grandma’s quilt on the wall.”

It would look pretty cool, Vitek had to admit, and it would be nice to have a reminder of home. All he had were some photographs on the bookshelf in his living room. He didn’t own very many books because books in Czech were hard to find in Hershey so most of it was just hockey memorabilia, both his and Jakub’s, and his few pictures of his family.

They went to pick up the pieces of dresser, but not before Vitek made them stop for picture frames. “We need photos of your family too if you are going to live with me,” he said.

Jakub smiled brighter than before. 

They spent the rest of the day building the dresser. Jakub left at night to grab the rest of the things and bring them over in the morning. Vitek wouldn’t admit it, but it was weird to sleep alone knowing it was the last time he wouldn’t be sharing a bed for the foreseeable future. But Jakub was back in the morning with two large duffle bags of clothing and a suitcase full of random household items he’d picked up in the past few months. He had a latte for Vitek from Starbucks and Vitek tried not to feel bad about how little Jakub owned. Jakub had made Vitek’s apartment into a home for both of them.

They clinched a playoff berth easily and regular season rolled into postseason in a frenzy of practices, work-outs, and tape review. The Bears had made the playoffs last year but everyone said their team was stronger this year and that they could go farther, deeper. Vitek knew he was probably being scratched for the entire playoffs, seeing as he had only played one game, but he still worked his ass off in practices.

Playoffs hit like a punch to the face. Vitek felt exhausted after every game and he was just on the bench. Jakub drove them home every night and Vitek more than once had to collect him from the couch where he’d fallen asleep and make him go to their bed. On off days, Jakub spent as much time sleeping and eating as he did anything else. Vitek tried to cook as much as possible for him. By the end of the first round, he was starting to feel a little superfluous. But at least he could feed Jakub, take care of him, make sure he was strong.

After they made it out of round two, a bunch of the older guys went to a bar and Liam and Riley invited all the guys who were too young to drink in America over for ice cream. Vitek and Jakub thought that was pretty pathetic until they walked in the door of Liam and Riley’s apartment and saw Liam pouring vodka into a glass full of ice cream.

“Vodka milkshake,” said Liam and laughed at how fast they made their way to the kitchen counter.

Their alcohol tolerance was better now, but still wasn’t that great, and Liam hadn’t been measuring how much vodka he’d put in the milkshakes in the first place, which meant after two and a half milkshakes each, they fell asleep in the beanbag chair they’d been sharing. Vitek woke up to dozens of texts in the group chat after Riley sent the team pictures of them. Riley was kind and a good man but not so good that he wouldn’t take pictures of Jakub curled up on Vitek’s chest, drooling on his shirt, and Vitek asleep underneath, hand curled on Jakub’s neck protectively.

Vitek made an honest effort to read the text messages, he really did, but he was super hungover. His English was better now, and he’d gotten really good at English swear words, but there were still a lot of words he didn’t understand. With a headache and Jakub sleeping peacefully on him, it was hard for him to focus on the text messages. He was enjoying waking up before Jakub for once, even if he was a little nauseous and the light was in his eyes. Jakub was heavy on top of him, making his sleepy noises that Vitek had become accustomed to listening to.

Riley and Liam were making breakfast in the kitchen, talking quietly. Vitek watched them move around each other, hands on hips to get each other out of the way and their tired hangover smiles. Riley poured Liam coffee and Liam looked at him, grateful and content.

Vitek was entirely unsurprised when Liam kissed Riley on the cheek before turning back to the pancakes. He was mostly surprised it wasn’t on the lips. He watched Riley flush a little and duck his head when Liam couldn’t see him.

And people called him and Jakub soft. But Vitek wasn’t about to take a picture of this and throw them under the bus. This was private; no one was supposed to see this.

Jakub made a grumbling noise into his chest. Vitek looked down at him and scratched the short hairs on the back of his neck. “Okay, Jakub?” he said, loud enough that Riley and Liam could hear them. He didn’t look at them to see if they noticed. He wanted to pretend that he hadn’t noticed them being soft in the kitchen, because that wasn’t his business and he wasn’t a snitch.

Jakub made another grumbling noise and lifted his head. “I feel like shit,” he said. “Is there coffee? Where are we?”

“Liam and Riley’s apartment,” said Vitek. “And I could get you coffee but you’re crushing my chest, you big loaf.”

Liam said something from the kitchen. He wasn’t facing them and his voice was kind of muffled by the whirring of the fan above the stove. Vitek caught “coffee” and “beauties”. The latter didn’t make sense in context. He ruffled Jakub’s hair. “Get off me,” he said. “What did Liam say?”

“He called us Sleeping Beauties and said there is coffee and pancakes if the two of us get off the floor,” said Jakub. He yawned, pushed his face into Vitek’s chest briefly and then rolled off of him and onto the floor. “Oh, that was a mistake.”

“If you throw up on the carpet, they will send you to South Carolina,” Vitek said.

“Help me up,” Jakub whined. Vitek grabbed his hands and pulled him up.

Riley and Liam fed them pancakes and gave them coffee. They talked about the third round. Jakub did a bad job at translating everything, probably because he was so hungover, but Vitek didn’t mind too much. It was good practice and Riley and Liam were being really careful in how they spoke, careful like they wanted Vitek to understand, instead of just barrelling along in a conversation and leaving Vitek three sentences behind trying to catch up.

Vitek understood more English now than he did when he got called up and even more in this moment when he was fully caffeinated and full of pancakes and happy.

“Go shower, you smell like vodka,” said Liam. Vitek was disproportionately proud of himself for understanding that sentence, considering Liam was just being bossy and sort of insulting them.

They went home, showered, and took a hangover nap. Vitek woke up to Jakub curled around him, arms bent and tucked against Vitek’s back and knees brushing the insides of Vitek’s thighs.

Vitek thought he should move but he didn’t want to. Jakub was sleeping soundly and he didn’t want to wake him. And anyway, it was nice to be touched. He hadn’t had a girlfriend since he left home. He’d never had a boyfriend. All he had was Jakub right now, curled around him like he wanted to burrow into Vitek for safekeeping.

He let himself have this and spent another 20 minutes listening to Jakub breathe next to him until he had to pee. Then he got up as gently and quietly as possible. Jakub still woke up, rolling over on his back and yawning. “I want a Big Mac,” he said. “Sorry I was cuddling you.”

“It’s okay,” said Vitek. “It was nice. It made me feel safe.”

“I am your protector,” said Jakub with a nod.

“You do a shit job of it on ice though,” said Vitek. “Always scoring on me in practice. No loyalty to your roommate.”

“Gotta keep you fresh and busy,” said Jakub.

Vitek shook his head and went to the bathroom.

The third round rolled on. Vitek could barely believe they were Eastern Conference champions even while he hit the ice to celebrate with the rest of the team. The locker room was a mess after the press left. Everyone was so happy and so tired.

Jakub was so tired by the time he’d done cool down that he couldn’t drive. Vitek drove them home and made Jakub drink a Gatorade before ushering him to bed. He stayed up to talk to his parents for a bit; they were so proud of the team they could hardly speak. Vitek felt the same.

They were nice enough not to mention that Vitek had very little do with the team winning in this series. Vitek was glad for that too. He hung up and went to bed.

He woke up in the middle of the night with Jakub’s arm slung around his hip and Jakub’s forehead pressed against his shoulder. It didn’t bother him and he fell asleep easily.

The finals were a shitshow. Lake Erie shut them out so spectacularly that Vitek felt like he should quit hockey by the time Lake Erie won because he was so useless. The whole team was exhausted and disappointed. They weren’t mad at each other though; Vitek appreciated that at least. Everyone in the locker room knew how hard they’d worked.

All the alternates gave them a pep talk before they split for the night. They were proud of the team and the team should be proud of themselves. They’d fought hard and they would do it again next year. Liam was especially fierce as he urged them not to spend the whole off-season stewing. Half the team were UFAs after this season, but Vitek appreciated the sentiment. It wouldn’t help anyone to just be mad all summer. They could do it all again.

Jakub translated the entire speech to Vitek quietly, even though Vitek could understand a lot of it. Vitek put an arm around him when the alternates got done with their speechs and people started leaving. “Thanks,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” said Jakub. “Let’s go home, okay?”

Liam and Riley told them to meet them for ice cream the next morning. Vitek drove them home while Jakub sulked in the passenger seat but pretended he wasn’t.

At home, they drank Gatorades and went straight to bed. Jakub curled up close to Vitek before he fell asleep and Vitek let him. They both needed it.

In the morning, Vitek woke up alone as usual. Jakub was sitting shirtless in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. He had some pretty nasty bruises on display.

“Good morning,” he said. He didn’t look particularly mad about losing anymore. Jakub got over things pretty quickly, Vitek had learned. They had only fought a couple of times and Jakub recovered more quickly than Vitek did. It made sense that he’d recover from this loss too. They would both be back next year, either with the Capitals or for another run with the Bears.

“Morning,” said Vitek. Jakub poured him a cup of coffee when Vitek sat down.

They drank their coffee in silence. When Jakub finished his coffee, he stood up abruptly. “Don’t freak out,” he said. “I have to try something.”

“What?” said Vitek. “What should I not freak out about?”

“Put down your mug,” said Jakub.

Vitek put it down. Jakub climbed into his lap. “Don’t freak out,” he whispered, straddling Vitek’s hips and putting his hands on Vitek’s shoulders.

Vitek didn’t even breathe when Jakub kissed him.

It was over too soon. He was lightheaded when Jakub pulled back. “Thanks,” said Jakub. “I just wanted to try that.”

Jakub’s face was blank, like he was trying not to give something away. He started to move like he was going to get off of Vitek’s lap. Vitek put his hands on Jakub’s hips immediately. “I’m not freaking out,” he said. “Do it again.”

Jakub broke into a grin and leaned down to kiss Vitek again. This time, Vitek kissed him back until they were both breathless.

It was unfortunate that they had to get ice cream with Riley and Liam later that day, because all Vitek wanted to do anymore was kiss Jakub. As it was, he just made Jakub take a shower with him, so he could give him a handjob. Jakub was breathless then too and laughing when he came. “Holy fuck,” he said, or babbled, after. “I wish we had done this months ago. Why are we doing this now? Why didn’t we do this when I moved in? Or before I moved in. I liked you even back then. I liked you the first time I met you.”

Vitek kissed him to shut him up even though hearing that Jakub liked him since they first met made him want to know more.

They were late to getting ice cream with Riley and Liam. Riley and Liam didn’t seem to mind. They were sitting outside the ice cream shop, drinking milkshakes that turned out to be spiked with Bailey’s and exchanging glances when Jakub put an arm across the back of Vitek’s chair after he sat down with his and Vitek’s ice cream. Vitek tried not to smile too much at Jakub or at Riley and Liam looking married, but it was hard not to. He was really happy sitting in the sunshine with his friends.

“We’ll see you next year,” said Liam after he and Riley finished their ice cream and were heading back upstairs to pack and clean.

“At training camp,” Riley added.

Jakub didn’t have to translate that and didn’t bother to either. He stole a bite of Vitek’s sundae before Vitek finished it. “Gonna be a good summer,” he said.

Vitek stood up to shake their hands, but they hugged him and Jakub.

Back at the apartment, Jakub collapsed on the couch. “FIFA,” he said.

“Laundry,” Vitek countered because they had a ton of clothing and sheets and towels to wash that they hadn’t managed to do at all during the course of the playoffs. They had to be out of their apartment by the end of the month at the latest, but both of them had flights leaving next week so they really had to get their asses in gear.

“We’re out of laundry detergent,” said Jakub and he started to get off the couch.

“I’ll get it,” said Vitek.

“Really?” said Jakub.

“Yeah,” said Vitek and grabbed the keys to Jakub’s car.

Vitek still didn’t understand half the words on the laundry detergent bottles but he was pretty sure now that a lot of the words were made up by the laundry detergent companies to sound sophisticated. He grabbed the lavender bottle off the shelf again. Jakub had read the bottle aloud to him once. It was all natural, no artificial chemicals, so the Stingrays really had gotten to him in the end.

Back at home, Jakub was sleeping on the couch but woke up when Vitek shut the door. He smiled sleepily at Vitek when he saw the bottle. “You really like lavender,” he said. “You always buy that brand. Why?”

“It reminds me of home,” said Vitek.

“Your parents’ home?”

“It reminds me of this home,” Vitek clarified. Jakub grinned. Vitek kissed him and went to start a load of laundry.


End file.
